Henryk Łowmiański (August 22, 1898 near Ukmergė - September 4, 1984 in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

) was a Polish historian and academic who was an authority on the early history of the Slavic and

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

people. A researcher of the ancient history of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and the

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

in general, Łowmiański was the author of many works, including most prominently the six-volume monumental monograph '' Początki Polski'' (''The Beginnings of Poland'').

Scholar years

Łowmiański was born to father Konstanty and mother Kazimiera ''née'' Rudzińska. After receiving his doctorate on the ''"Wschody" miast litewskich w XVI wieku'' (''Beginnings of Lithuanian Cities'') in 1924, Łowmiański became the first history Ph.D. in the University of Stefan Batory (USB). Prior the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, working as an academic archivist wrote a two-volume ''Studia nad początkami społeczeństwa i państwa litewskiego'' (1931-32), and a treatise ''Uwagi w sprawie podłoża społec-znego i gospodarczego Unii Jagiellońskiej'' (1934). In the meantime he took over the Chair of the History of Eastern Europe in 1932 until the termination of the university in 1939. In 1945, at the invitation of the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Kazimierz Tymieniecki, he took over the Chair of the History of Eastern Europe, later renamed the Chair of the History of the Nations of the USSR in 1951, until 1968. In 1946 was appointed as a full professor. He researched the early history of Poland and of the Eastern Slavs, publishing ''Podstawy gospodarczego formowania się państw słowiańskich'' (1953) and ''Zagadnienia roli Normanów w genezie państw słowiańskich'' (1957) before his most important work, the six-volume monumental monograph '' Początki Polski'' (''The Beginnings of Poland'') between 1963-1984. From 1953 he was the head of the medieval history department of the newly established Institute of History of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

and from 1956 an ordinary academic member of the PAN. In the years 1951-1956 / 1957 he was the head of historical departments at the AMU in Poznań, and in the years 1956 / 1957-1968 he was the director of the Institute of History at AMU. He was also a member of number of scientific societies, including Society of Friends of Science in Wilno (1935), Shevchenko Scientific Society (1936), Poznań Society of Friends of Learning (1945) among others. Besides major books, his bibliography includes around 300 items, and the first volume of his selected works about Lithuanian and Belarusian history ''Studia nad dziejami Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskieg'' was published in 1983. According to Maciej Siekierski, the "continuing timeliness and scholarly value of these works are a tribute to the great historian". According to Stanisław Alexandrowicz, Łowmiański had a universal authority already during his lifetime, being considered as an expert on historical sources, the history of Lithuania, Slavic and Baltic people in the Middle Ages, economic and social relations of medieval Poland, and statehood formation in Central and Eastern Europe. During the mourning ceremony by the academic community, reputable historian

Gerard Labuda Gerard Labuda (; 28 December 1916 – 1 October 2010) was a Polish historian whose main fields of interest were the Middle Ages and the Western Slavs. He was born in Kashubia. He lived and died in Poznań, Poland. Life Labuda was born in N ...

assessed his role in the Polish historiography as equal to

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

and Joachim Lelewel.

Personal life

His wife was Maria Łowmiańska (1899-1961), Polish philologist with historical interests, also graduate from USB.

Awards

He was awarded the Officer's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(1951), the Order of the Banner of Work, 2nd class (1954), and on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

, he received the first-degree state award. In 1974, he was awarded the Order of the Builders of People's Poland.

Important works

* ''"Wschody" miast litewskich w 16 wieku'' (1923–1924) * ''Studia nad początkami społeczeństwa i państwa litewskiego'' (2 vol., 1931–32) * ''Uwagi w sprawie podłoża społec-znego i gospodarczego Unii Jagiellońskiej'' (1934) * ''Prusy pogańskie'' (1935) nglish edition: ''The Ancient Prussians'' (1936)* Wcielenie Litwy do Polski w 1386 r.'' (1937) * ''Podstawy gospodarczego formowania się państw słowiańskich'' (1953) * ''Zagadnienia roli Normanów w genezie państw słowiańskich'' (1957) * ''Geneza państwa ruskiego jako wynik procesu wewnętrznego'' (1962) * '' Początki Polski'' (6 vol., 1963–1985) * ''Studia nad dziejami Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego'' (1983) * ''Studia nad dziejami Słowiańszczyzny, Polski i Rusi w wiekach średnich'' (1986) * ''Religia Słowian i jej upadek (w. VI-XII)'' (1979) * ''Polityka Jagiellonów'' (1999)

References

, "Wspomnienie pośmiertne. Dzieło życiowe Henryka Łowmiańskiego," ''Roczniki Historyczne'' 52 (1986): 245-248. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowmianski, Henryk 1898 births 1984 deaths People from Ukmergė District Municipality People from Vilkomirsky Uyezd Historians of Lithuania 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Vilnius University alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University Members of the Polish Academy of Learning Researchers of Slavic religion Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland